Saturday, December 26, 2009

How to not spend Christmas Night


Child #3 has had a lovely cough for the past couple of days. After a wonderful day of presents, both Grandmas being here and a tasty meal it was bedtime.

Child #3 wasn't feeling up to par and started to complain that his ear hurt. None of the ear drops I had made if feel better so off to the ER we go since MeMa (my mom) was staying the night and I could leave the other three kids to sleep.

Since we are in the middle of Flu Season here, he got to wear a face mask to keep from spreading his coughy germs. He thought it was kind of neat. It had Mickey Mouse on it too.

Yep, slight ear infection. We'd like a script for the numbing ear drops please. Thank you very much... honestly the only reason we went to the ER was to get that script, not the antibiotics.

Only took about 45 minutes too. I love our ER. Its close and quick.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Its SNOWING!!!


Yes it does snow in Central Texas Virgina.

Okay so it wasn't a ton and we only had a slight accumulation which didn't last very long but it was snow.

Mostly of the pictures didn't come out and you can't really see the snow but at least I got one of Child #4 first real snow. Okay so she was 6 months old when we had the "Ice Storm" of 2007 and she doesn't remember it but I think she'll remember this.

It wasn't expected to snow until early afternoon but I kept the kids home from school since I didn't know if they would get to play in it at school. I didn't want them to miss it.

Next year we really need to take the kids to some big snow. They will love it.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

I am Thankful for...

I am very thankful for Mythbusters marathons on Discovery channel and DVR'D episodes of Good Eats that engross the hooligans while I laid on the couch dozing and fighting the nausea. Child #3 feels great... Me... Not so much.

Also thankful my kids roll with change... Turkey Tomorrow!!! Hopefully...

Night before Turkey Day

Okay so the Turkey is brining, the Potatoes are cooked and cooling, the Dressing fixin's are cut just need to cook, Cranberry dipping sauce done, Pumpkin Cinnamon rolls are baking... I can't believe I'm so well prepped for tomorrow and its only 11:30 PM.

Of course I had to speak to soon...

Child #3 just came downstairs after throwing up in his bed. Poor little one. Guess we won't be doing Operation Turkey tomorrow or going to the park to play with friends. Best laid plans of mice and men...

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

A few rambling moments from earlier today...

Earlier I was listening to the foursome singing offkey and a smash version of Jingle Bells, Rudolph and a song I can't quite put my finger...

So I just spent 5 minutes chatting with Hubby on IM and Child #3 and Child #4 just wiped out an entire 2 POUND container of strawberries!! Seriously!?! The entire container? You'd think I never feed these hooligans.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Why we remember Veteran's Day...

"Their life's work is our security and the freedom that we too often take for granted. Every evening that the sun sets on a tranquil town; every dawn that a flag is unfurled; every moment that an American enjoys life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- that is their legacy." -- President Obama

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Yep, I guess she looks a little bit like me...




Child #4 at 3 years of age.


Me about the same age many many years ago.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

An enjoyable Saturday spent with the Fam...

Well, since Hubby was home we got to enjoy the Downtown Farmer's Market as a family again.

TacoDeli breakfast tacos. Ginger Scones, Blue Cheese and Bacon Quiches.... sooooooo tasty. Hubby was in bliss getting to enjoy his beloved breakfast tacos. Homemade while very tasty just aren't the same as the TacoDeli ones. He also enjoyed some of the coffee that he always gets from the Texas Coffee Traders and I enjoyed a lovely Hibiscus Tea from Nile Valley Herbs. It is sooo amazing and I just love to support him and his business. He uses part of the proceeds from the sales to help bring clean water and assistance to his home village in Kolomiseed in Africa.

I also got to see one of my wonderful AustinMamas who work one of the farmers stalls. Always great to see Ms. Debi.

After enjoying our wonderful breakfast while listening to a great singer playing at the sitting area we headed over to BookPeople another wonderful Austin based company. The kids enjoyed the bookstore and I picked up the latest copy of Alton Brown's new book Good Eats: the Early Years and my wristband for the book signing tomorrow. Yep, we're gonna see the Man himself, Alton Brown tomorrow. Okay I admit I'm pretty damn excited but then so are the kids. They soooo love to watch Good Eats. I've got about a dozen episodes DVR'd and they watch them just as much as they watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars. His only serious competition is the Weather Channel.

Yeah, so I've got weird kids... what's it too ya?!

It was a very enjoyable day... of course on the way home the kids (especially Child #3) wanted to go to Terra Toys. I swear he knows exactly where it is because as we were driving down Burnet on the way home he wanted to know if we were going to Terra Toys because it was right ahead (1/2 a mile away!). Boy is way too smart for his own good sometimes.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Today was a rough day.

This morning Hubby got a phone call. A phone call that no one wants to get. He found out that one of the vehicles with four guys from his unit in Afghanistan was hit by an IED in while on a mission Two of the men were killed and the other two were seriously injured.

Hubby was so upset. He was angry that he was here and not there. Not that it would have stopped it from happening but he felt so powerless being on the other side of the world when two men who were friends died. Even though they weren't "directly" his men, they were still his men. They were some of the men they are there to protect.

Hubby doesn't show lots of "sad" emotions. He keeps those inside a lot. I think I can count about a dozen times I think I've seen him seriously tear up or cry. Most of those were when each of the kids were born. In the past four days I've seem him tear up twice. When he was hugging the kids for the first time at the airport and again when he got off that first phone call.

I was about to call one of his best friends K (who is also military) tell him the Hubby needed him when the doorbell rang and there he was. K had heard the news and came as soon as he could. Hubby needed to have someone he could talk to who really understood what was going on. While I can be as supportive as possible, I've never been to war and I've never lost someone I knew closely like that. K has and he also knew two men who were injured. There was also another vehicle hit by an IED further south of them. All four men were killed. October has become one of the deadliest months for our soldiers in Afghanistan.

Please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Homecoming.

He's finally home. He was able to get an earlier flight out of Dallas. He called me from Dallas and said he was about to get on the next flight... which gave me about an hour before he'd land in Austin.

So after a frantic gathering of the younger twosome, a quick run over to school to grab the older twosome and then it was off to the airport. I'd made a welcome home sign before hand and stashed it in the back of the Disco. I didn't tell them where we were going before but Child #1 is sharp and she figured it out. Thankfully she caught the look about keeping quiet about it.

Because of the rules about gate security we had to wait outside the terminal at the top of the stairs from the baggage claim. And of course the airport security guard kept staring at us like we were gonna rush her station and do "something". Yeah I'm there to create havoc and destruction on your airport with my four small children... wait a minute... okay you got me there. My four little hooligans are there to destroy the airport.

I can't believe I forgot to take any pictures of them standing there waiting with the welcome sign. DUH!!

We got there a little bit before his flight landed (few minutes delayed) so we got to watch lots of other people walk by. At one point a man in ACUs walked by and the Wee One Child #4 stared at him watching him walk by, she kept watching him intently trying to make sure he wasn't Daddy. So of course she was turned facing the wrong way when he did come walking up. The kids totally mobbed him hugging on him. Again I forgot to take any pictures. Double DUH! I of course had to wait my turn to get a hug... several minutes later.

But now he's home... for two weeks. Such few precious moments before he has to return.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Heading home!!

Heard from Hubby... he's in Germany then onto Dallas and onto HOME... so soon!

He should get to Dallas early tomorrow morning and then his flight to Austin is in the afternoon. Maybe sooner if he can catch an earlier flight.

Trying to get the house straighten up before he gets here. Have to put the garage back together with all the stuff I'd pulled out for the garage sale yesterday.

So much to do!

It's been 229 days since I've seen him in person. Skype (when it works) is great but not the same thing.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Well that didn't go as planned...

A large group of mamas from my local moms group got together for a community garage sale. 22 tables with lots and lots of stuff. Should have been awesome. Would have been awesome if it had stayed at the 15% chance of rain that was forecast all week for Sunday.

Nope wasn't a 15% chance of rain by the time the garage sale was about to start... it was 70% that quickly went up to 100%. And stayed there for the next 3 hours.

The cafe that was so kind to allow us to take over their parking lot for the sale insisted that we set up inside as much as we could. The owner didn't want the sale to be a total bust since he knew we'd all worked so hard at getting everything together.

It was great to see a bunch of great friends and I did sell a few things but not as much as I would have liked to. Another mama came up with a great suggestion for us to try again next month in an area that would be covered so weather shouldn't be an issue.

Here's to better weather for the sale next month!

The kids did enjoy spending the day with my mom again. She was very kind to drive over again and watch the kids so I could go down to the sale sans kids. It is so wonderful to see how much Child #4 has become comfortable around my mom. She just loves to sit right next to my mom almost in her lap at any given time that Mom sits down. :-) Its very sweet. She loves her MeMa. We've been so blessed with children that don't seem to have high separation anxiety and have a general ease around people. I was wiped out from being up late the night before to finish prepping for the sale and all the moving and carting of all those bins of stuff so I was able to crash and take a nap while Mom was still here.

Theoretically he boarded an airplane for Kuwait about 14 hours ago...

Friday, October 9, 2009

T-Minus 4 Days... plus or minus a few days...

Just got to love how exacting Hubby's arrival date is. He should be leaving Afghanistan on Sunday the 11th... then it could take anywhere from 36 hours to 4 days for him to arrive in Austin. All depends on what flights are available and where he's routed through.

I can't believe he is going to be home again in less than a week.

I've miss him so much. It just isn't easy being a single parent when your other half is on the otherside of the globe for almost a year. It's going to feel so strange to have another adult in the house... someone else who can make decisions and understands the consequences of those decisions.

Its going to be very weird to have someone in the bed next to me again. Yeah the kids have made the rounds with climbing into bed with me on various nights over the past year but it isn't the same.

Rain, rain, rain, and more rain...

How much more rain can there be? Must it rain all at the same time. How about spreading it out over the months instead of hitting us with it all in a few weeks.

After taking the kids to school this morning, I climbed back into bed with a very tired Child #4. She didn't want to go to sleep last night and was justup off and on most of the evening. She wasn't cranky or sick... just "not tired". Well I was still tired (trying to keep from getting to run down with this possible flu) and I made her get back into bed with me.

It really is nice to sleep in a cozy bed when its dark, overcast and rainy outside. I do love to sleep when it rains. There is just something so soothing and comforting about the sound of falling water.

Just a quiet lazy morning...

Monday, October 5, 2009

Must not get FLU!!!

Even going to bed fairly early (at least for me) I still woke up feeling all wiped out and tired. With a lovely rockin' headache. Nice... I really don't need to get sick right now. I've got too much to do. I need to get ready for the big garage sale this weekend (must earn some money back after the most recent monetary hemorrhage!) and get the house put back together before DH flies in next week sometime.

I feel like I'm running a fever but haven't registered over 98.4 all day... much really means a low grade fever for me with my normal temp of 97.8ish. Been taking lots of vitamin C to try to not get the flu from Child #1.

I don't need this. I really don't need this.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

The 5 year olds birthday party.

So I pushed child #3's party to the weekend of Oct 2nd because the weekend of the 26th (his actual birthday) was suppose to rain the whole time... not a single drop all weekend. Beautiful blue skies and very warm. Okay yeah it was pretty hot that weekend but it didn't rain.

It was only suppose to be a 10% chance of rain for today... it was overcast all morning. We got to the park... a family favorite because of the awesome huge sandpit with buried dinosaur bones... got everything all set up down under the sunshade and not 20 minutes later...

Torrential downpour. Not just a little light rain. Wall of water pouring from the sky rain.

We quickly grabbed everything and ran up to the covered shelter areas. Thankfully the group that had reserved one side of the pavilion was finishing up (they were just waiting for the rain to ease up to leave) and graciously offered us the use of the area. The other group (which had NO ONE there yet and never did) was totally giving us dirty looks when we all first ran up to the area because we'd invaded their space. Yeah my little band of about a dozen people that were all huddled at two tables on the side away from them were just totally cramping their non-exsistant party guests style... and of course at least another 15+ people who had been out riding or running on the trails that suddenly ran for cover. Some people are just so classless.

While it was extremely wet and caused the cupcake icing to melt a bit and the oreo "Mickey ears" to slide off the cupcakes the kids still enjoyed them.

Even with all the rain (which caused at least a dozen people to cancel) and not too many guests showing up (thank you thank you thank you for those brave few that did!!!)... he had a great time. He is just such a happy boy. Truly happy. My 95 percent boy... he is happy 95 percent of the time.



My mom was able to drive over from Houston and spend the day with us. All the kids were so happy to get to see her and hang out together.

Everyone was wet and chilled by the time we got home so all the kids went into a warm bathtub while Mom and I snuggled in a couple of warm robes. We ordered Chinese food and watched Monsters Vs. Aliens again. Overall a success.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Marathon Kids

For four years now we've done Marathon Kids. I have to say that this year was the most disorganized year to date. Every year they have called everyone down by grade. Why they always started with fifth grade, then fourth, then third... then kinder, first grade and finally second. Why have the oldest start first never made any sense to me. Yeah have the youngest kids with the shortest attention span wait longer than older kids who have patience.

Yeah that makes A LOT of sense... NOT!

This time instead of having everyone sitting in the sections by school (per previous years) and calling everyone down by grade is was done by section only. Which turned into a free for all. VERY POORLY planned!

This year thankfully we didn't have the heat to deal with like two years ago but it was misty rain most of the time. The only time it wasn't rain... when they were doing the non-stop speeches. While I understand how much work it takes honestly a bunch of elementary students just don't have the patience to sit through 45 minutes of speeches... most of which you couldn't really hear anyways.

And they only had the kids run 3/4 of the lap this time, in the past they did almost 2 laps. Really didn't feel like much of a run for them.

Kids enjoyed it which is what is important...

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

It just keeps on coming...

After a week of revival... the fridge died. It is 57 degrees inside... soo not the 40 degrees its suppose to be.

So I went in search of a new fridge. Kind of cheap because after the past summer of dying appliances and super high electric bills... having 60+ days of triple digit heat and the rest of the summer days being in the upper 90s just kills having a low energy bill... there just isn't lots of extra fundage around.

So I found a fridge but they can't deliver it before Friday. Nice, everything that is salvageable is currently in the big ice chest. We'll see how much that is in the ice chest is still salvageable on Friday. I moved as much of the frozen stuff as I could into the garage freezer. The stuff in the freezer seems to be keeping froze and hasn't started to thaw but I moved all the meat and just left basically the gallon of Blue Bell Vanilla ice cream. Better that than the almost $100 worth of meat. Sadly we lost quite a bit of fruit... a large container of strawberries and a large container of raspberries, a bunch of asparagus and lettuce, a gallon of milk, a quart of 1/2 & 1/2 and a quart of buttermilk. A large container of sour cream and a bunch of yogurt cups. Lots of dairy that I just don't trust to be okay.

Seriously, how many more electrical appliances do I need to replace? In the past 5 months I've replaced the battery in the truck, the stereo tuner in the living room, the washer & dryer, the microwave, the phone, the modem and now the fridge. Enough all ready!! We're hemorrhaging money here!!

Sadly the funds that just replaced the fridge were set aside for two special items I'd been wanting to buy for a while... bunkbeds for the #2 and #3 hooligans' room and a Wii for the family. Guess I'll have to wait a couple more months to buy those now...

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

So the electrician shows up finally after two days of no A/C. I explained to him the problem, stood there and watched him pull out the switch, look at it and then he shoved it right back in... CROOKED!!

And then starts hitting it with his pliers to try to get it to seat!!

WTF?? He is using the "use a bigger hammer to force it in" technique? Honestly, he's the licensed electrician and I do a better job of installing the switch?? Really?!? He tried to play it off like it was in and I said its still crooked. He pulled it out and what do you know, the clips were bent again.

DUH!

So he decided to try a different switch. Since it had a different connector pattern it slipped in easier and now is seated full into the slot.

Finally cold air again in the house.


Good new, #1 Child is back to her normal self. She's fought off the evil scourge that is the Flu and she's lived to tell the tale. She's still a little bit tired but NOTHING like yesterday.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Influenza Type A -- Round 1

Child #1 started to complain about a sore throat Sunday. She also had a nice fever of 100.5 and was extremely hoarse. She didn't do too much talking... she kept giving me written notes.

This morning when I went to check on her to wake before school... she was burning up. Temp of 103.3 and no voice. Total lack of energy too. So it was off to visit the Pediatrician.

This child was definitely sick. She just looked so washed out and exhausted. While we were waiting in the exam room she was so tired she laid down on the bed... she never does that.

She tested positive for Type A flu but at least she was negative for Strep.

We also tested Child #3 and #4 because they were with us at the office. Both were negative. Okay that's good. So its only hit one of us so far.

We started her on Tamiflu. She's now out of school for the rest of the week.

Time for large quantities of Vitamin C for everyone. Vitamin C until your pee changes!!

There was an almost 20 minute wait to check out at Walgreens. Apparently the Flu has struck Austin. While we were at Walgreens I picked up this awesome new thermometer from Vicks. Its amazing. I figured I might as well get a really easy to read thermometer if I'm going to be walking around checking all the kids' temps all week to see if anyone else is getting sick. They all think its really cool.

Let the school know that she tested positive. Apparently about a quarter of the school has been out sick... nice that they gave us a heads up about that. I also talked personally to each of the kids' teachers to let them know.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Are you kidding me??

We have no A/C again!!

Why? Because the electrician who changed out the breaker switch jammed it wrong! Seriously? How hard is it to line up two metal posts between two clips?? I pulled it out and straightened out the clips (which were bent because he just shoved it in and didn't seat it correctly). Nice, so you mean for the past 4 days electricity has been ARCing across the offset clips? Great you could have burned my house down!

And of course the switch doesn't want to work. And the temp has gone up again. Its a lovely balmy 85 degrees INSIDE right now.

Why does this always happen on the weekends?

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Where was I five years ago...

In a hospital ...

Five years ago today Child #3 burst forth into our lives. Literally. My bag of waters only broke when the OB popped it as he was crowning (Child #3 was nearly born in the caul). The Boy nearly shot out past him once it broke. The nurse squealed and threw her arms underneath the OB's to make sure he didn't slip though, it was that suddenly.

My labor was pretty quick... about 6 hours. Half a dozen pushes... He was born at 41 weeks plus 3 days... (give or take a few days)... because you know they only really determine EDD by throwing a handful of chicken bones into a corner. ;-)

So we were blessed with a second son as our third child. "Fiery one"... oh so appropriate. He has a fiery love of live. He's my 95% boy... he's happy 95% of the time... just have to watch out for that 5%, its wicked!! The only other name that might have been appropriate for him would have been Calvin... as in Calvin & Hobbes. He's got the thatch of blond hair too.

So since it was HIS day, he got to decide where we would go.

First stop was the Downtown Farmers' Market. We enjoyed Bacon & Blue Cheese Quiche, Caramelized Onion Quiche, Raspberry & White Chocolate Scones and the all time favorite the delicious Ginger Scones. I craved those scones my entire fourth pregnancy! Soooo tasty. We also enjoyed fresh lemonade and hibiscus iced tea. We ate under the almost 2oo year old Texas Live Oak trees. Beautiful day in the shade. Otherwise it was HOT! It got up into the 90s again.

After the Farmers' Market we did a couple of quick errands and then it was off to Terra Toys. The kids all love going to Terra Toys which is this wonderful local toy store. Its nothing like ToysRUs. They carry all these amazing toy brands that are just awesome. There are tons of things to play with so you get to try out the toys. Since it was Aidan's birthday he got to pick out a special toy. He picked out these 5 magnet balls. They are about the size of a large gumball. Everyone else got a little treat too.

Then it was back to the house to pick up the 6 qts of soup so we could then go to the Soup Swap with several of my Mama friends. The kids all played outside with some of the other kids that were there. Its so wonderful to see the kids playing with other children of all different ages. Especially younger kids. Child #1 is sooo sweet with some of the littles. Lots of fun was had by all... good snacks, good wine, good conversations and lots of good soup with my wonderful Mamas.

Then it was dinner time. Child #3 picked going to Culver's for dinner. Hamburgers, root beer and frozen custard! Happy happy boy.


He was so sweet as soon as we all started eating he was offering bites of his hamburger to all of us. Then after dinner it was custard time. We got three custards to share. One Vanilla, One Lemon Ice with raspberries and a Chocolate Heath Crunch which was the birthday boy's choice. All three children happily offered bites of their custards to each other and shared them all around with Child #4 .

Makes a Mommy's heart so proud... my littles are turning into such kind and generous little people.

Finally it was back to the house for presents.

Overall, I think it was a very good day. Next week we'll have the birthday party with lots of friends... it was suppose to rain all weekend so I pushed it back a week... not a drop of rain today and doesn't look like it for tomorrow now either. UGH!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Loves Me Some AB...

Alton Brown will be in town Oct 18th to promote his latest book. OH we are SOOOOO there. My four wee hooligans are absolutely addicted to Good Eats. There must be at least 10 episodes currently saved on our DVR... and I often hear them putting them on to watch by themselves. I'm going to eventually have to get the series on DVD soon.

Aaaaah the beauty of children entranced by culinary skill and a slightly warped sense of humor... its like watching Mommy and Daddy in the kitchen. HA!!

So Oct 18th will be seeing the entire family (Hubby too since he should be home on mid-term) will be at the Whole Foods downtown for his book signing. I think they are going to be veeeeeeery impressed to see him in person.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

And we have A/C again...

After 2 days of waiting and seeing an A/C tech who found the master breaker switch was tripped... the electrician came out and had to replace the breaker switch.

Nice cool air in the house again.

Thankfully the temperature only went up into the 80s this week... and it rained a ton. Didn't help to really cool the house off much at night but at least it was bearable. Everybody had a fan pointed on them and an overhead fan while they slept.

Oh and the fridge seems to have revived itself from the death's door. THANK YOU, that at least is one expense I don't have to worry about right now.

Monday, September 21, 2009

WHY? Stop the world I want to get off...

I swear if it isn't one thing its another...

So Saturday night I realized that the house wasn't very cool. Yep, the A/C has stopped working. NICE! This will be the FIFTH time since we moved into this house almost 5 years ago. This is really getting old. Thankfully with my landlord's service insurance its only cost us about $35-50 each time but still. WTF?? I'm so tired of having the damn A/C go out. Its probably the compressor... again. Nothing is working on the outside unit. And with the way the house is designed opening the windows doesn't really help to cool off the house. Last night the temp never went below 82 degrees and let me tell you, its nice and sticky in here.

Yes, there are small favors. It could have gone out two weeks ago when we were still hitting triple digit numbers... but we've actually already done that twice with this A/C unit in the past. I'm just sooo over this crap. And of course the service insurance will not cover weekend services so we have to wait until this morning for the service call to be filed with someone. Nice. Which can mean that we might not have someone out here until tomorrow.

And NOW... the damn fridge has stopped working.

FUCK!!!!

I've got a light on inside but otherwise no power. Everything is starting to get covered in condensation and the freezer is starting to defrost. And of course its nice and full of food! Its 6 years old. It shouldn't have gone out yet... right? Of course the warranty was only good for 5 years. I'm not sure if its worth trying to get someone out here to try to fix it.

I really didn't need this today. So now I have to wait until I hear about the A/C service and then I've got to go and find a new fridge... for cheap. Very cheap and that can be delivered today.

UGH!!

And then to just piss me off this morning, the kitchen light had decided to become finicky. Its one of those crappy fluorescent tube lights. One side has decided to not come on at all and the other one will only come on after I try a few times.

Seriously? Did I really need this??

DAMMIT!!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

My 95% Boy


Child#3 has been nicknamed the 95% boy since he was a little baby. He honestly is happy about 95% of the time... look out for that 5% but thankfully it isn't often.

This is honestly how he looks about 95% of the time... just plain happy.

I took this picture last week when he came home from school. He had a really really really really really fun and great day at school. He got to use glue again. Life is sweet when you are Five.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Less than 30 Days...

Well in less than 30 days plus or minus Hubby will finally be home. Well for 2 weeks. Then he leaves again until January-ish.

It will be so wonderful to have him home again. Even if I have to deal with the coffee grounds on the counter... oh wait, that won't happen because I sent his coffee pot to him so it will still be in Afghanistan. MWHAHAHA! Okay so I'll have to deal with his shoes at the bottom of the stairs which is also the middle of the hallway...

BUT...

I'll also have someone to snuggle with at night. Someone to cook with. Someone to laugh and giggle with. Someone to just hold and hold me.

Someone who should be home right now. But soon. Soon.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Eddie is the MAN!!

Eddie Izzard just completed 43 marathons. FORTY THREE!! That is 43 times 26.5 miles! That is over 1100 miles. In 7 weeks.

He is AMAZING!

It was done to help raise money and awareness for Sport Relief charity.

http://www.comicrelief.com/donate/eddie

http://www.eddieizzard.com/blog/

Death or Cake?

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Texas weather

Anyone who lives in Texas knows that if you don't like the weather... wait 20 minutes it will probably change.

Unfortunately for those of us living in Central Texas the weather has NOT been changing every 20 minutes. Unless getting hotter and hotter is a change. We've been under a drought for over 21 months. We are waaaaaay under our typical annual rainfall. Like almost 3 FEET under. Yeah its been dry around here. Doesn't help that every time a rain storm heads our way it has decided to skirt around Austin. Seriously, I've watched the storm on radar head right for us, disappear when it comes over Austin (or at least not drop a single raindrop) and then start pouring down again once its on the other side of our area. We have missed getting rain by mere blocks from our house.

Add in the massive quantites of triple digit temperatures... yeah this summer basically sucked. It was too hot to be outside and there wasn't enough rain to keep anything alive. Lots and lots of brown dead grass yards around here.

Well it has FINALLY decided to really rain here. Which means its been raining for almost 3 days straight.

UGH!! A little moderation would be nice here. We've got areas that have been dealing with flash flooding for two days now. Enough!! How about spreading that rain out over a week or two huh?

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Gotta Love Jon Stewart sometimes...

"That’s not tyranny, that’s democracy. See now you are in the minority… it’s suppose to taste like a shit taco…"

What its all about...

Taken at 9:37am Washington DC time 2009 in Ghazni, Afghanistan... 8 years from the exact moment of the Pentagon Strike.

Friday, September 11, 2009

The Day to always remember...



Visible from the International Space Station on Sept. 11th, 2001

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Operation Annual Sept 10th Massive Cookie Bake

So its become a family tradition for 4 years now to bake lots and lots of cookies on Sept 10th. Then we deliver cookies to as many of the local fire and police stations in our area on Sept 11th as we can to say thank you. I've always been a baker so that is how I thought we could do a little something.

We wanted to create a day that is more of a remembrance and a day of thanks for their service than the horrific tragedy of so many lives needlessly lost. It is a day that shouldn't be ignored or forgotten so this is a small way that we try to acknowledge it.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Has the world gone insane?

Seriously people have a problem with the President... you know that elected by the majority of the people President from speaking to their children???

Encouraging them to stay in school, work hard, set goals and take responsibility for their learning... oh how DARE he!!!

Honestly people are we becoming so swayed by the talking heads that are only interested in created a media frenzy because it boosts their ratings and therefore their paycheck that we've forgotten who and what we are talking about???

He is the President. Not some whackjob idiot. He is a highly educated and highly articulate man.

UGH!! The Media... the root of all evil in the world.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

First Day of School


Yeah, its a little bit dark in the picture but what do you expect at 7:15 am in the morning.

I suppose I could have taken the picture outside but its been the tradition to take the pictures in front of the front door. Ignore all the magnet toys all over it. Its the only metallic surface in the house... stainless steel appliances don't like magnets.




Child #3 was suddenly a little nervous once it was time to get in line.


But then he was okay.



And the long line of Pre-Kers heading off to their first day.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Meet the Teacher Night

So tonight we Meet the Teachers. Should be interesting.

The older three are very excited. It will be nice to get these bags of school supplies out of the house before someone tried to open and use everything again.

Child #4 thinks she's starting school too. I've have to explain to her a couple of times that not this year.

Bureacracy!!

http://consumerist.com/2009/08/mattel-primary-reason-for-toy-safety-law-gets-exempted-from-it.html

NICE! The whole point of the safety law was because of the massive amounts of lead coated toys that had to be recalled... MATTEL being one of the primary OFFENDERS!

Aaaaah Bureaucracy and Big Business destroying the purpose of a well intended safety law. Priceless!!

Monday, August 17, 2009

Countdown to School

So its less than a week until school starts.

I can't believe I have a Third grader, a First grader and one starting Pre-K.

Okay it still irritates me that they refuse to allow Child #3 to start Kinder because his birthday is 3 weeks after the "cut off". He is soooo ready to start school. He knows his letters & can write them, can write his name, can identify so many words, can count to 100 and is more than mature enough socially. Hell he shares better than most kids his age but nooooooooooo! His birthday is 26 days after August 31st.

Yeah that's a real good reason to have him wait another year. Personally I think it should be on a case by case evaluation if the parents wish them to start.

Anyways, I've sorted through clothes for the new year. We've acquired our much needed school supplies. Even bought stickers to put on each of their pencil boxes so they will be personalized. Backpacks are labeled and ready. Just need to do haircuts. The boys are easy and I'll do them myself but I'm thinking about taking Child #1 to KAOS and letting them do it this time.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Weather Channel

I swear it is becoming the bane of my existence. My children are OBSESSED with The Weather Channel. They have to have it on ALL the time.

I was just informed by Child #4 who is 3 years old that "we are going to have a chance of scattered thunderstorms tonight".

Yeah, I believe that when I see it. Especially since we are day 50+ of triple digit temperatures and we are in the middle of a drought. We are more than 3 feet below our annual rainfall for the past 20 months.

And we seem to be under some bubble that surrounds the Austin area and doesn't allow the rain to actually FALL here. I've watched the radar and it seems to vaporize when it goes over Austin to reappear on the other side. WTF?? Seriously. We've missed getting rain in our yard by mere blocks.

Anyways, my children are obsessed with watching The Weather Channel. Of course they also love Good Eats with Alton Brown... I now hear it on in the other room, very distinct theme music... watching Discovery Channel and National Geographic in HD. They are becoming science obsessed. My little herd of geeks. :-)

Monday, August 10, 2009

It's been a month...

This is going to be a kind of depressing post with a few swear words so feel free to just pass it by...

Well, a month ago I lost one of my dearest friends. My 16 year old cat.

Its really hard right now as I type this because usually he'd be sitting in the computer chair right behind me... trying to work his way to the entire chair if you gave him an inch. My chair feels to big and empty now... no purring fuzzy pillow against my back.

He'd been such an integral part of my daily life. My almost constant companion. In over 16 years I think I spent less than two months away from him total... part of that was when he went missing for 5+ weeks during the Winter of 2000 when I was in Dallas. He survived three different snow storms outside during that time. He was such a fighter. He was a tough cat.

He even started life on the rough side. Which makes it so hard that he just gave up this last time.

Hubby and I "acquired" him together when we first started dating. He had picked me up from work (after 11:30pm) and I was hungry for some sour cream potato chips. Someone at work had a small bag and I'd had one so I was suddenly wanting more. And of course Hubby wanted a Coke. First grocery store we went to only had HUGE bags of sour cream potato chips... I didn't want that many. Just a small bag. So we went down the street to this funky grocery store. There were like 3 cars in the parking lot. A little boy (about 4 yr old) was playing with this little grubby grey kitten... his parent was near by but it still blows me away when I think about that little boy out that late at night. Honestly it was almost midnight!

So we went inside. I got my smaller bag of sour cream & chive chips and DH got a coke. We came back out and all the other cars in the parking lot were gone. The little boy was gone. The little grubby grey kitten was still there.

Hubby being the big tough guy that he is... said, "I can't just leave him there." Yeah he's a *really* tough guy. So we grabbed a towel out of the back of the car, wrapped him up and took him home. I swear we weren't in the car a minute before this LOUD rumbling purr started and he totally passed out. I mean practically dead to the world asleep. Guess he knew he was safe and loved.

We took him to the vet the next morning. He figured the kitten was about maybe 8 weeks old. He had worms... the kind only birds get which means he'd eaten a bird within the last 12 hours. Yeah he was a tough little thing that knew how to survive. Once we got him home and washed him up becuase he had bits of tar stuck to him from the parking lot being resurfaced we discovered that he was a pure white cat... with a couple of little bitty skid marks on the top of his head which did eventually fade away as he got older.

We originally named him Furrocious as a joke because he would stalk into a room like he was all bad ass and then suddenly vaporize back out as fast as he could. Eventually Furrocious turned into Furro which then turned into Furro-bot and then finally Bot-bot. He also responded to Shmoo... because he looked like that big ole blob of white from the cartoon.

He was such a wonderful part of our family. He was an incredibly cool cat. He was the kind of cat that people who don't like cats liked. He loved to be roughly pet... we use to call it making bread dough because he loved for you to practically rub him into the carpet. The harder you loved on him the harder he purred and wanted more. He loved to play fetch when he was young cat. Seriously, he would fetch this fuzzy soft ball if you threw it, or he would play handball and hit it back to you if you threw it. He was more dog than cat at times. He liked his space but really hated to be alone, he was always close by. Usually right next to me.

When I was pregnant with our oldest daughter, I was working up in Dallas helping to set up and open a new bookstore. I took Botbot with me. He slept ON me every night. Right across my body pillow and my belly. It was like he wanted to help protect the baby. Anytime she would move around or kick he would start to purr. I was scheduled to go to Houston for a couple of days over Christmas. The night before I left I was packing up my car, Botbot got out and I couldn't find him. I searched for the next day trying to find him. It snowed and froze at least 3 different times over the next 5 weeks. I looked everywhere for him but couldn't find him. At the end of January I was moving back to Houston. I'd posted flyers at the office of the apartment complex and everytime I turned around they would be gone. WTF? The babysitting flies for New Years were still up but someone kept taking my lost cat flyer down. I finally posted on with "Reward". The next day someone called and left a message on my answering machine saying he'd seen a large white cat over near building 8-9 (which was on the other side of the huge complex) and he hoped it was my cat. He didn't leave his name or anything. So I drive over there (it was raining of course). I searched and searched and couldn't find him. I went back to my car and was sitting there crying when I suddenly saw a splotch of white moving in the bushes at the other end of the building. I got out and ran towards it. Saw it was a cat moving through the bushes. Called his name and he turned around. I called his name again and he came bolting towards me meowing the whole time. Before he'd disappears he'd been a 20+ pound cat, my big ole fat cat when I found him he barely weighted 10 pounds. He was sooooo skinny. I'd finally found Botbot about a week before I was suppose to leave Dallas. How he survived those freezing temperatures and at least 3 different snow storms I'll never know. He was like that though. A fighter.



He was always so amazing with the kids too. He never swatted or purposely scratched the kids. The only time he ever scratched anyone when he was trying to get away and that wasn't in a malicious way... just trying to move. He would lay there and let the kids roll on him and rough him up. Whenever he'd finally had enough he would just get up and leave. No hissing or growling. Never a harsh sound from him like that.

He really loved the kids. Even when he'd finally have enough of them and would leave... he'd only be gone for a short time. He'd usually end up right back in the middle of the room they were playing it. He'd just stretch out on the carpet right in the center of everything.

He never really gave up his habit of sleeping on me at night. Which sometimes sucked with a big heavy cat would lay on you... many a sore morning.

Bot's health hadn't been fabulous for a while. Last fall he was "attacked" by a dog in the neighborhood. The dog didn't cause any external damage but he banged up his hip pretty good and he never did recover his previous spunk and vigor. Then about two months ago after we got back from our camping trip, he climbed into my lap and I noticed he had a lump on his side near his spine. Next thing I know he's licked all the fur off of it and it started to ooze. Ick. Nice little abscess. I took him to the Emergency Clinic because our vet was "closing for the day". WTF?? Well almost $300 (ouch!) later he was much better. They cleaned up the abscess and gave me some meds to give him. He was doing pretty good considering. Thankfully this was all while the kids were in Houston so the house was nice and calm and quiet for him to recover. He slept most of the time on my computer chair. We figured it was a tooth bite from one of the other cats Albert (who was always trying to assert his authority, he couldn't quite understand that Botbot was the alpha male). It was almost 3 weeks later, it looked like the bite was healing up nicely. Bamm! Overnight it started to swell again. I tried to clean in out but it wasn't getting much better. So I took him to the vet and they cleaned it all out and put a drain tube in. We also put him on a stronger antibiotic. Boy was that FUN to try to force pills into him. He sooooo didn't like it. So over the next week I fought with Bot to take his pill every night. A couple of days later he stopped eating and I couldn't get him to eat anything. Not even his favorites like pieces of chicken, cream, salmon... He NEVER turned down real smoked salmon before. Then he stopped drinking water and I was trying to force fed him water. The wound seemed fine, it wasn't swollen or infected. He just seemed to have given up.

It still hurts so much.

I'm dealing with the guilt. Maybe I should have taken him into the vet sooner instead of waiting that extra day until his "appointment". Maybe I should have taken him to the Emergency Clinic that last night even though I couldn't afford to pay almost $100 before they even DO anything. Honestly that is sooo fucked up. They charge $85 before they even do a damn thing. And we are soooo fuckin' broke right now that I just didn't have the extra money. He had kind of a rough patch late last night and I thought he was about to die on me, then a little while later he seemed to rally. He was up and moving around (admittedly he couldn't walk very well but he hadn't been walking well all week since the drain tube went right across his spine) and he seemed to be doing better. So now I feel extra guilty about not taking better care of him.

That last morning when I woke up, he was really doing bad. Like he wouldn't hold his head up or really respond to my voice. So I rushed him over to the vet's office less than 5 minute away. I love the Vet but I really don't like his front staff that much. They are always so dismissive and you can't ever get an "appointment" the same day but when I've gone in there it isn't that busy. She told me that there was only the one DR working today and he was really swamped so I'd have to just leave Botbot and he'd look at him when he got a chance and would call me.

Against my better judgment I left him.

The Vet called me less than an hour later. He's just gone to take Botbot out of the carrier to check him out and he'd already died.

He'd died less than 45 minutes later. Alone. In that fucking carrier that he hated so much. Now I feel so guilty that I even bothered to take him in. Maybe I should have just kept him home and held him until he died. Instead he was alone.

Botbot was truly my first child. I loved him so much and he was such a wonderful and affectionate cat.

I still miss him.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Summer Dinner of Champions

Once in a while I like to make dinner a totally fun event. So as we approach the end of summer vacation dinner tonight was:

Fresh Fruit
Ice Cream
and...

S'Mores.

I think the kids were in total heaven. They practically bounced up the stairs to bed... total sugar high. And quickly crashed. Aaaah blissful quiet.

Friday, August 7, 2009

LIfe on my own...

Well, right now I'm doing the *single* parenting thing. The beloved other half of my parenting team is currently on the other side of the world in Afghanistan. He's been gone since January though he was gone a lot in the couple of months before that with lots of training.

Its never easy to be the sole parenting unit. Yes, its easier because they can't play good parent bad parent with you but sometimes its really hard to be the only responsible adult around here. I'm very blessed to have four wonderful children who seem to understand how important it is for Daddy to be gone doing his job.

But its hard knowing he's missing their lives and knowing that they miss him so much.

I miss him so much.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Rest in Peace John Huges...

"Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Seriously??

And so it starts... I was just Instant Messaged by Child #1 (the 8 yr old) from upstairs on her laptop...

She's out of crackers...

Now I'm a food delivery service?? And why does she have crackers upstairs in her room??

Friday, July 24, 2009

Today was a good day...

Lunch at Terra Burger w/ friends.

Ice Cream at Thai Fresh (AWESOME Jam!!).

Looked at fish at Petsmart.

Went to HPBooks.

Kids played in the sprinkler.

Child#4 wanted to "sleep wif yous" so we did.

Now quiet house & a glass of wine... it was a Good Day.

Monday, July 20, 2009

And so it begins...

I slowly poke my toe into the blogging world. We shall see how well I really do with this.

Can I blog, tweet, facebook, read tons of emails, AND "single parent" (Hubby is halfway around the world in Afghanistan) four small children under that age of 9? Along with 5 cats, 1 dog, 2 parakeets, 1 guinea pig and more fish tanks than there should be in one household... while keeping said household clean... okay we won't worry about the cleanliness too much... will we?

I won't look at your floor if you won't look at mine.

Deal?

Because you know a non-sticky crumb less floor is highly overrated. Honestly, who really needs to be able to walk across a room without having funky grit stick to your feet. Socks are great. Slippers even better. Actually I keep most of the floors pretty clean I just HATE doing the kitchen floors.

Honestly, they look like hell within 15 minutes of doing them. The only time they look great for longer than 15 minutes is when I do them late at night. Then the hooligans destroy it when they get up in the morning.

Between the gallon of milk or the jug of apple cider that doesn't make it INTO the cup by Child #3 (the almost 5 yr old boy), Child #4's (the 3 year old girl) obsession with dumping the sugar bowl on the floor, the crumbles that don't stay in the mouths because they chew like horses... actually I think horses are tidier... the dirt tracked in from the backyard especially child #2 (the 6 yr old boy) who usually has pockets full of dirt, rocks, pebbles and other bit so flora and fauna that should remain outside and Child #1 (the 8 yrs old girl) who has the propensity for tearing/cutting paper into little bits and "saving" them... is it any wonder my kitchen floor looks like hell???

But enough of my floor...